Pierre LeBrun via twitter: The players voted “yes” to give the executive board the authority to file a disclaimer of interest. 706 players voted yes, with only 22 players voting no. This doesn’t mean that the players association will definitely file the disclaimer, but gives them the option to do so before January 2nd. LeBrun doesn’t think that they’ll file right away, if they do at all. They will focus on getting a deal done. Darren Dreger via twitter: Giving the board that authority is one thing, filing the disclaimer is another. The season is days away from being over.

“This is something we’re doing for a reason,” said Boyes, who signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Isles. “This is not for show or anything like that. We’re at a point where guys want to exhaust all options and do everything we can to avoid this.

“We’re going to see what we can do. Like (Fehr) said. We don’t want to do this, but it’s looking like we might have to (do it).”

A source said that the players also voted if they would form a trade association if they did file for the disclaimer of interest. If they formed a trade association, Don Fehr would be one of their lawyers that would represent them.